Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Day #8 Camera Day in the Flume

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Today we are using a high speed camera, that takes 90 frames/second, in the bed of the flume to track sediment movement in the swash zone. We will be running about 10 sets of very short (2 minute wave runs) of monochromatic waves, with our main focus of collecting accurate data from the high speed camera.

It took about 3 hours to prepare the flume by moving and adjusting sensors, and to place the camera in the swash zone correctly. As part of the preparation, Thijs Lanckriet (PhD candidate from the University of Delaware), and I had to replace the probes on five of the CCP (Conductivity Concentration Profilers, I discussed in yesterdays blog), and then place them back into the bed under the Vectrino II's at one of the stations. Below shows a picture of Thijs and I working to replace the probes on one of the CCP's.

Below, is an up close view of a probe being placed into the CCP Sensor.

As I mentioned above, our main focus today is to collect accurate data from the high speed camera. In fact, two out of our three stations that we normally collect data from are not being used today. So, we are collecting a subset of data (one station) for all the wave runs today. Below, is a picture of our station II (with various sensors and instruments) that had to be adjusted parallel to the bed, instead of perpendicular, as it normally is when collecting data, to accommodate for the high speed camera.

It took several people working hard to set up the high speed camera correctly and safely into the bed of the flume. Below is a picture of Dr. Ian Turner (Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales), Dr. Martin Austin (Post-Doc at Plymouth University), and Dr. Jack Puleo (Associate Professor at the University of Delaware) working to insert the camera into the bed.

Next, is a picture further along in the process of inserting the camera with some happy faces of Dr. Ian Turner, Dr. Martin Austin, Dr. Jack Puleo, and Hachem Kassem.

Then, Dr.Ian Turner and Dr. Jack Puleo are doing the finishing touches on the camera before the first wave of the day.

Later in the afternoon, we placed the "Smart Sand Grains" back into the flume for a wave run. Only this time, we decided to build a cage for it out of metal wire, so that we would not lose the balls in the flume again. Below, are two pictures of me helping construct the metal cage in the flume for the "Smart Sand Grains".

You can see from the picture below, that it took quite a few people working hard to set up the cage, and adjust the high speed camera before the next wave run. We have Hachem Kassem, Dr. Gerd Masselink, Dr. Daniel Conley, Patrick Lawless, and Dr. Jack Puleo all working as a solid team to get the job done.

The picture below, shows what the high speed camera, and metal cage look like set up next to each other, ready for the waves.

Next, we have the "Smart Sand Grains" in the cage, ready for the wave run to begin.

Below, is a video I took of the "Smart Sand Grains" riding the waves; freely spinning and turning while collecting data for us!